


wake me up (vergehen sollt')

by zedille



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, Faust - Freeform, Gen, Green Day References, Gretchen am Spinnrade, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Pre-X-Men: Days of Future Past, References to Goethe, Sleeping Beauty Elements, Spindle erasure, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 12:09:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20835230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zedille/pseuds/zedille
Summary: Charles, 1969-1973: the needle & the wheel.





	wake me up (vergehen sollt')

**I.**

Charles’ life is ruled by the shadow of the wheel. It was brought upon him by one who, for a time, was a guest in his home. But he wished for vengeance, and so Charles was struck down, a victim of that careless, contemptuous cruelty. Now Charles is bound to the wheel, trapped by unrelenting Fortune’s twisted spokes and misshapen fellies. The wheel bears his weight and it weighs him down more than he can bear, and he is broken on it as it spins ever on. The wheel looms before him. His destiny awaits, and there is no escape.

**II.**

The light glints off the needle’s point. Charles pricks himself with shaking hands; it hurts, as it always does, but he disregards the pain for the relief he knows it brings. The needle takes him away from this intolerable reality where he is abandoned, yet haunted, and somehow still alone. The walls of his home echo with whispers — he ignores them now. Charles slowly drifts into darkness and silence and oblivion. Hank’s power is limited, and the needle is all he can do. It is not a curse but a kindness, a blessing, a _gift_, and Charles accepts it gladly.

**III.**

The years go by as in a dream. Life goes on around him, racing by in fits and starts, but Charles stands still, frozen in memory. He stirs himself only to trace the halting and uncertain passage of time by the accumulation of the needle’s marks on his body. The world has forgotten him, and he the world. The mansion is his whole world now; Charles waits for it to become his mausoleum. The world is bitter, for his peace is gone. When Charles remembers what he lost, he thinks that he will find it again only in the grave.

**IV.**

Even the thread of a hundred years has an end. Someone comes for Charles: his kingdom has come and recalled him to duty. The force of their envoy’s gaze compels him to reassemble his shattered sense of self. The needle was his crutch, but Charles casts it away. Under his own power, he leaves the house that for so long imprisoned him. Though the world has changed around him, his people still look to him as their leader. The hedge is trimmed, the house is empty no more, and Charles finds a measure of peace — yet the wheel spins on.

**Author's Note:**

> _Ach dürft’ ich fassen_   
_Und halten ihn,_
> 
> _Und küssen ihn_   
_So wie ich wollt’,_   
_An seinen Küssen —_   
_Vergehen sollt'!_
> 
> September has ended, and so has this fic.
> 
> * * *
> 
> German taken from Goethe's __[Gretchen am Spinnrade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretchen_am_Spinnrade). See also [Grimm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty#Grimm_Brothers'_version) & [Green Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_Me_Up_When_September_Ends).
> 
> If the creator's style is showing, you can hover over or click (if you're on mobile) the German for translations. The last line is the story title. HTML/CSS tutorial from [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10957056).


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